Ice along the Connecticut river is putting property and homes near it at risk. The U.S. Coast guard is leading the effort to mitigate the threat.

Like a blade cutting through a sheet of white paper.

"It's just like a perfect, perfect path," said a member of the Coast Guard.

A small coast guard tugboat embarks on a mission along the Connecticut River.

Its goal, to free ice that's jammed along the waterway.

"There's a big white spot open over there you see it?" said a member of the Coast Guard.

This isn't an easy job because Wednesday's temperatures are bellow freezing and the ice is thick.

In the coast guard, a vessel like that is called a cutter and it's a boat that is certainly destined for the job that it has at hand. On the Connecticut River, the ice can be up to 10 inches thick and it's plowing through it no problem .

Senior Chief Bossun's Mate Aron Brewer is overseeing operations. He's one of six seamen on board.

"We started right before the holidays , it froze up a little bit, broke that and then during the holidays it began to freeze again," said Brewer.

It's a tedious process.

"It was fun for the first 20 minutes. It got kind of monotonous," said a member of the Coast Guard.

Crush ice in one area so it can move to another.

"The current will take it down, start up north," said Brewer.

Often only to get stuck again.

"It freezes right back up," said Brewer.

But Brewer says he and his crew feel a sense of duty doing this type of work because New England depends on it.

"You have potential with all these homes along the shore line of flooding, as well as coal barges and heating oil that transits up and down the Connecticut River, they otherwise wouldn't have access to the Connecticut River," said Brewer.